1. Maximum weekly hours of work

An employee’s hours of work must not exceed 38 hours in a week. The Standard does not provide for averaging as was available under WorkChoices. However, an employer may require an employee to work “reasonable additional hours”. A variety of factors are taken into account in determining whether additional hours are reasonable.

2. Requests by parents for flexible working arrangements

A parent who has the responsibility to care for a child under school age may request their employer change their working arrangements to assist them to care for the child. Flexible working arrangements can include a reduction in hours, change to start and finish times, working from home and job sharing arrangements.

The request and the employer’s response must be writing. The employer may refuse a request only on reasonable business grounds. The NES does not define reasonable business grounds. Fair Work Australia will provide information and assistance to employers as to what may constitute reasonable business grounds. These could include the cost to the business and the employer’s ability to reorganise work arrangements.

3. Parental leave (and related entitlements)

As well as continuing the right of employees who have 12 months service (including regular and systematic casuals) to take 12 months unpaid leave, the Standard introduces the right of employee couples to take 2 sequential periods of 12 months each to care for a child after the birth. In addition, after 12 months leave an employee can request a further period of up to 12 months. The employer must agree to the request for the extension unless the employer has reasonable business grounds for refusing it.

The Standard also includes a requirement that employers making a decision that will have a significant effect on the status or pay of an employee’s position while they are on parental leave must give the employee information about, and an opportunity to discuss the effect of the decision on their position.

4. Annual leave

The Standard provides that an employee is entitled to 4 weeks paid leave for each year of service which is stated to accrue “progressively during a year of service according to the employee’s ordinary hours of work”. It is not immediately clear how often an employer is required to accrue the leave. Annual leave can be taken whenever agreed between an employee and employer and the employer must not unreasonably refuse to agree to a request to take annual leave.

There is no right to direct employees with excessive accrued annual leave to take the annual leave.

The Standard also provides that awards may include provisions allowing for the cashing out of paid annual leave.

5. Personal / carer’s leave and compassionate leave

Personal/carer’s and compassionate leave are in line with the current legislative minimums of 10 days personal/carer’s leave per annum and 2 days of both unpaid carer’s and compassionate leave per permissible occasion. One distinction with the current legislation is that personal leave is currently payable on the amount the employee ordinarily would have expected to receive. Under the Standard, personal leave is paid at the employee’s base rate of pay which excludes bonuses, loadings, allowances, etc.

6. Community service leave

An employee is entitled to be absent for jury service, voluntary emergency management activities (or other prescribed activities) for the time they engage in the activities plus reasonable travelling time and rest time. For leave of this kind other than jury service the employee’s absence must be reasonable in all circumstances. Employers must pay employees their base rate of pay for jury service.

7. Long service leave

The Standard essentially requires employers to honour long service provisions reflected in awards and other industrial instruments. It is anticipated that the Standard will work in tandem with State legislation for the time being.

8. Public holidays

Traditional public holidays are incorporated into the Standard as days upon which the employer must pay the employee at the employee’s base rate of pay if the employee is absent. An employer may request an employee to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable.

9. Notice of termination and redundancy

The notice provisions of the Standard are in line with the current standard under the Workplace Relations Act.

The Standard sets up for the first time a legislated minimum scale of redundancy payments which an employer must pay in the event an employee’s employment is terminated because the employer no longer requires the job to be done or because the employer is insolvent, as follows:

10. Fair Work Information Statement

Fair Work Australia will publish a statement called the Fair Work Information Statement which will contain information about:

1. the National Employment Standards;
2. modern awards;
3. agreement making;
4. the right to freedom of association;
5. the role of Fair Work Australia.